Fall Perennial Workshops
These Fall sessions consist of three (3) workshops. Material in each class is unique. Each class will run from 6-7:30 pm
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September 22nd – Growing Perennials: Secrets to Success
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October 7th – Perennial Garden Trends: From Pollinator Gardens to Prairie Borders
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October 20th – Growing Perennials: Evaluate to Renovate!
Growing Perennials: Secrets to Success
Many homeowners and beginning gardeners find their way to perennials to lessen the cost of filling beds and borders each year with annuals. That’s certainly a good reason for growing perennials but there are so many more! In this fun class, an experienced gardener and landscape designer will take a cheeky look at both the pros and cons of growing perennials. We’ll examine perennials’ eccentricities (yes, they are!) and give tips that only a decades-on grower can give. The class will touch on design considerations for planting a new space or renovating an existing one. And no perennials’ class is complete without looking and talking about plants!
This class will explore:
- The reasons you should plant perennials and considerations for not planting them
- An exploration of the eccentricities of perennials
- How gardening ‘mistakes’ make us better perennial gardeners
- Design tips for new or to-be renovated spaces
- A look at and description of perennials to grow in sun and shade
Perennial Garden Trends: From Pollinator Gardens to Prairie Borders
As eco-minded gardeners, we have been enthusiastically planting for pollinators ever since becoming aware of the shocking decline in the numbers of butterflies and bees. While remaining committed to doing our parts to save pollinators, we can enjoy many designs and types of gardens.
In this class, an experienced pollinator gardener and designer will describe trends in pollinator garden designs from simple cottage gardens to re-wilding to curated home prairie beds and borders. We’ll see native and other pollinator garden plants and discuss how to use them in our planted spaces.
Success often means our plants run wild and rampant! The class will also describe ways to maintain a tidier ‘wild’ garden.
If you are thinking about planting a pollinator garden or want to renovate a disappointing existing one, bring all the details to our class and leave with the start of a plan!
This class will explore:
- Trends in pollinator gardens
- A description of ‘re-wilding’ and ‘curated meadow’ gardens
- What is a pollinator garden and what must it contain
- A discussion of native plants
- A look at and description of plants to be used in a pollinator garden
- Design tips for various types of pollinator gardens
- Maintenance tips for keeping pollinator gardens wild but tidy
- Assistance to develop your pollinator bed or border.
Growing Perennials: Evaluate to Renovate!
Perennial gardens should delight us from Spring to Fall and interest us in the Winter. From colorful blooms to hungry pollinators to contrasts of textures, there should always be something to fascinate and make us smile. Yet perennials, in all their eccentricities, whether growing successfully or in challenging ways, result, from time to time, in beds and borders in need of renovation.
In this class, an experienced garden designer and renovator will guide you through the process of evaluating your space to plan for future changes. We’ll examine types of problems in the garden and suggest solutions, discuss basic and easy design principles and how to position plants for optimal viewing pleasure. The class will also include a look at and description of how to use plants that can serve as remedies to garden issues.
Bring descriptions, measurements, and/or pictures and leave with ideas for your spaces.
The secret to renovation success starts with evaluation!
This class will explore:
- Steps in the process of evaluating a garden
- Definition of seasonality in the garden and how to achieve it
- Common perennial garden issues and suggestions for improvement
- Basic design principles to produce balanced and pleasing spaces
- Ideas for placement of plants for optimal effect
- A description of ‘problem-solver’ plants
- Assistance to solve problems in your beds and borders.
